Follow Me

Question: Do you give your players control over their creatures/followers? As in an actual character sheet?

Yes and no. Players do receive character sheets for their Creature and Follower Birthrights, which gives them a good idea of their capabilities and what kinds of things they can be effectively used to do. However, since most of these things have free will when not actively given orders, they do not control them the same way they control their PCs; they can give their Followers orders, but it's the Storyteller who actually "plays" Birthrights. We do this partly to prevent players from being overloaded by needing to keep track of six people instead of just one, and partly to ensure that the Followers/Creatures are being played in a way that's consistent with their capabilities and character.

A character sheet for a Follower has their basic powers and stats on it, and looks approximately like this example of Eztli's current sheet for her Follower Chicahua (click to enlarge):

As you can see, it gives the Follower's general stats and powers, and lets the player know what they probably can and can't do. The player is the custodian of this sheet, and lets the Storyteller know when they need a stat from it (i.e., "This monster is taking a swipe at Chicahua, what's his DV?"). The player won't officially play Chicahua, however, so it'll be the ST who speaks his dialogue, makes his decisions, follows Eztli's directions, hits Geoff in the knee with a hammer, and so on. The Storyteller might occasionally have a player make a roll for the Follower, but only if they're not doing anything else.

Players also don't control the upgrading of Followers or Creatures without appropriate powers, just as they don't control relic upgrades without Industry; Followers and Creatures don't get or spend XP, so they really only grow and change with the Scion as the Scion goes up in Legend, with the largest changing happening at the jumps from Hero to Demigod and Demigod to God. Players can always give input into what they'd like to see their Birthrights develop into - say, "I'd like my bear to become much more hardy so he can take hits for me!" or "I'd like my troop of fairies to become really smart so they can give me advice on occult matters!" - but the stat changes themselves are handled by the Storyteller, the same as for relics.

Players that have appropriate boons can use them on their Followers or Creatures, though; a player with a Birthright rhinoceros and Animal (Rhino) could use Epic Enhancement on his companion, and a player with appropriate Followers and Health could use Human Clay to make improvements and changes to them if she wanted to.

The bottom line is that while Followers and Creatures are living things, they're also still Birthrights, which means their upgrades and behavior are handled by the Storyteller. They're completely loyal and dedicated to the Scion, of course, so she can boss them around right and left however she wants, but she won't directly play them, which might be overwhelming or unfairly spotlight-hogging to other players who only get to play one character.